Fatty amines produced from tallow, coconut oil, palm oil etc, as the starting material are important intermediates in household and industrial fields. Particularly, fatty tertiary amines are converted into quarternary ammonium salts etc, and utilized in a wide variety of applications such as the field of fiber softening finishers, antistatic agents, rinse bases etc.
Conventionally, there is known a method wherein an alcohol and a primary or secondary amine are used as the starting material to produce the corresponding tertiary amine wherein a hydrogen atom bound to the nitrogen atom of the primary or secondary amine has been substituted by an alkyl group and/or an alkenyl group derived from the alcohol. The reaction mechanism is complicated, and not only mere hydrogenation reaction but also amine addition and dehydrogenation reactions are considered to produce simultaneously.
For example, JP-B 3-4534 discloses a method of obtaining an objective tertiary amine in high yield by using a catalyst based on copper/nickel/third component.
With respect to the form of a catalyst used in a fixed-bed system, a molded catalyst in the form of pellets, noodles or tablets have been conventionally well known. Powdery substance having a catalyst activity is molded in the above-mentioned formed by a method such as compression or extrusion to provide a molded product with a structure having numberless pores in it to satisfy both bulk form and large surface area. Such molded catalyst is disclosed in, for example, JP-A 6-211754.
Another form of the catalyst used in the fixed-bed system, a monolithic catalyst is known. For example, JP-A 2003-176255 discloses a reactor having a catalyst metal adhering to the surface of a monolithic.
In the monolithic or honeycomb catalyst technology, technical disclosure on pore structures of the catalysts is found. For example, JP-A 2002-355554 discloses a coated monolithic substrate containing a wash coat formed from a solution forming a furfuryl alcohol-containing polymer or from a prepolymer containing a furfuryl alcohol polymerizable unit and a monolithic catalyst having a catalyst metal deposited thereon.
In the monolithic or honeycomb catalyst technology, many examinations have been made for supporting a catalyst active substance on a substance by coating, particularly in the field of photocatalyst in recent years. For example, JP-A 9-271576 discloses a method of supporting photocatalyst particles, which includes applying a dispersion of titanium oxide particles in water or in a binder solution onto a substance, then drying it, further applying a binder solution onto the resulting catalyst layer and drying it.
JP-A 2003-135972 discloses a porous thin-film photocatalyst produced by coating a substance with a coating solution containing a photocatalyst active material and/or its precursor and a subliming agent then subliming the subliming agent thereby forming pores.